RECAP: New Rules for Harvard Medical School Faculty

What will Harvard Medical School's new conflict-of-interest policy mean for its faculty?

Below is a summary of the review's key recommendations for policy changes that will take effect on a rolling basis starting January.

Faculty must...

-disclose all financial interests, which will be listed publicly on the school's Catalyst website.

-alert the school's Standing Committee of Conflicts of Interest of their participation on a board of a for-profit company that may lead to conflicts of interest

Faculty cannot...

-participate in engagements where they are paid to give a talk for which the material is prepared in advance by the company

-accept personal gifts, travel, or meals from industry

-earn more than $10,000 a year from companies whose products technologies they are investigating in clinical research

-hold more than $30,000 in stocks of a public pharmaceutical or medical device-making company or hold any stock in a private company sponsoring the faculty's research

Industry cannot...

-fund continuing medical education courses unless there are multiple sponsors

-send sales or marketing representatives to target students on campus

This article has been revised to reflect the following clarification:

CLARIFICATION: July 22, 2010

An earlier version of the July 21 news article "RECAP: New Rules for Harvard Medical School Faculty" stated that the new conflict of interest policies prohibit faculty from giving industry-sponsored talks. To clarify, faculty are prohibited from giving paid talks for which the material is prepared in advance by the company.